Anyone any experience of Fiat Stylo Abarth? as poss shed.
Discussion
I think they were fairly well regarded in their day as being OKish, their slightly lesser outright ability versus contemporaries offset by their individuality and [insert cliche] "distinctive 5 pot warble". As I recall it has more of a GT vibe than outright hot hatch. I'd be most nervous of the selespeed.
I don't think reliability and quality is as poor as you might imagine, looks good, probably worth a go at shed money.
I don't think reliability and quality is as poor as you might imagine, looks good, probably worth a go at shed money.
I was once given one of these as a hire car in Paris (Sixt did good deals on mildly interesting cars) for a weekend and loved it. Selespeed and all. Lovely noise, and just the thing for darting around the Périphérique. Mad glass roof made up of lots of separate panels that opened in a sort of concertina shape. I suspect the inevitable leaking means that cars with this option are not around!
It was replaced (for some administrative reason or another) by a Mini Cooper - they had just come out. Nowhere near as likeable, although I suppose strictly speaking the Mini handled better.
Not sure what they'd be like now though - I actually looked at buying a couple of year old Abarths shortly after having the hire car, but even at that age they were looking tired and baggy inside.
It was replaced (for some administrative reason or another) by a Mini Cooper - they had just come out. Nowhere near as likeable, although I suppose strictly speaking the Mini handled better.
Not sure what they'd be like now though - I actually looked at buying a couple of year old Abarths shortly after having the hire car, but even at that age they were looking tired and baggy inside.
I always fancied one of these. The later cars where available as a manual and with suspension upgrades (Schumacher edition). They where outclassed when they where new as sat between warm and hot and cars like the the focus ST were much quicker and handled better. Now they make a lot of sense second hand as they make for a distinctive, quick GT hatch that sound amazing
Check the VED banding on it, I spoke to a guy who had one and it was £450 a year to tax his.
The info here advises it is currently £460 http://cars.uk.msn.com/features/used-car-guide/ste...
Other sources I saw said £280 a year.
The info here advises it is currently £460 http://cars.uk.msn.com/features/used-car-guide/ste...
Other sources I saw said £280 a year.
From the point of view of a Stilo owner with 70k miles experience check :
Front springs are intact, they have an appetite for breaking them. There was a recall to modify the front spring platform/retainer to stop the springs "unwinding" off the seats and heading towards the brake hoses, but this means the springs now break more frequently. I usually need at least one annually.
Rear axle bushes are a PITA to change. They are cheap enough to buy but are a press-fit on a heavy axle at a funny angle. There is a "special tool" but few Fiat dealers/back street garages have one. Most Independent Specialists know the drill though.
Front track control arm bushes and swivels wear out quite quickly, and are expensive to change compared to other brands. Think £70 per arm rather than £20 every couple of years.
Electrics are not as bad as reported, but there are a number of key connection points and Airbag warning lights are pretty much standard issue. Mine has the built-in NAV and phone, NAV is ok if the disc is still functional, but as it's only a single CD head unit (without the multichanger option) you can only listen to the radio while "navigating". The novelty of fitting your sim card "into" the car wears off pretty quickly.
Neglect leads to : Leaky and sticky sky-roof's, sticky calipers particularly rears, clogged up ERG's, MAF's can get dirty/oily.
Other things to note : Coils can fail on Petrols (like many others). Cambelt is a PITA on the 5-cylinder although not as bad as Alfa V6. Fiat revised the recommended cambelt change intervals several times, downwards in all cases so check it's been done in the past.
Selispeed's can go horrifically wrong.........
Phil.
Front springs are intact, they have an appetite for breaking them. There was a recall to modify the front spring platform/retainer to stop the springs "unwinding" off the seats and heading towards the brake hoses, but this means the springs now break more frequently. I usually need at least one annually.
Rear axle bushes are a PITA to change. They are cheap enough to buy but are a press-fit on a heavy axle at a funny angle. There is a "special tool" but few Fiat dealers/back street garages have one. Most Independent Specialists know the drill though.
Front track control arm bushes and swivels wear out quite quickly, and are expensive to change compared to other brands. Think £70 per arm rather than £20 every couple of years.
Electrics are not as bad as reported, but there are a number of key connection points and Airbag warning lights are pretty much standard issue. Mine has the built-in NAV and phone, NAV is ok if the disc is still functional, but as it's only a single CD head unit (without the multichanger option) you can only listen to the radio while "navigating". The novelty of fitting your sim card "into" the car wears off pretty quickly.
Neglect leads to : Leaky and sticky sky-roof's, sticky calipers particularly rears, clogged up ERG's, MAF's can get dirty/oily.
Other things to note : Coils can fail on Petrols (like many others). Cambelt is a PITA on the 5-cylinder although not as bad as Alfa V6. Fiat revised the recommended cambelt change intervals several times, downwards in all cases so check it's been done in the past.
Selispeed's can go horrifically wrong.........
Phil.
I've had a stilo Schumacher for the last year and a bit, same engine with a different body kit. It's a great car, comfy, Pleanty of kit, climate control, etc. it's very quite on the motorway at 75-90 Defo as quite as my mums e60 530d. It's got very quick steering and is a pretty good drive, nice 5 pot burble, I really enjoy mine.
The only problems I have had is a coil pack failed but thst was about £30 to fix I think,
When I got mine I tried a focus st170 and swayed to the fiat as it had better build quality, was better damped and doesn't have any obvious corner cutting like a ford naturally does. although I did get it for free, the only thing I don't like about it is the poor economy, I struggle to get 30mpg but I struggled to get that I'm my focus 1.8 petrol I had before. This may be down to not having a 6th gear which holds it's back as it sits at 3.5k revs at 85 on the motorway.
The engine is great, very revey, it's got some real go from 60-100 which can get dodgy on a slip road.
170bhp may not seem like a lot conicdering you get that in a 120d these days.
Tax is £280 for the year, £70 to fill up gets me 310 miles mainly m way but I don't slug about. I did once get 44mpg driving slow.
As said it's a decent car to cover the miles in, but still pretty good though the twisty bits, suffers very little understeer and grips really well. The steering is electic so doesn't have that much feel but it's better than a golf gti mk4
IDE recommend one any day, mine will be for sale due to a company car soon but the limited editions are worth about £3k.
And because no one knows what they are you can get a low millage one pretty cheap compared to a leggy focus
Edited by okie592 on Wednesday 12th March 13:07
Edited by okie592 on Wednesday 12th March 13:10
I used to have one and loved it... and after a remap and an induction kit from these guys, https://www.facebook.com/GSR.kits,
it dyno'd at 203.5bhp (compared with a same day, same dyno stock run of 170.2bhp)!
The stock airbox is incredibly restrictive, and although I cant see any mention of the Stilo kit on their site, I'd have a chat with them as its definitely worth it
it dyno'd at 203.5bhp (compared with a same day, same dyno stock run of 170.2bhp)!
The stock airbox is incredibly restrictive, and although I cant see any mention of the Stilo kit on their site, I'd have a chat with them as its definitely worth it
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff